You will be making a video documentary about one of the following topics:
- Australia as a Penal Colony
- The Atlantic Slave Trade
- The Highland Clearances of Scotland
After you choose your topic, the next thing you have to do is brainstorm everything you already know about the topic. This will help you decide what it is you need to find out in order to complete your project. You can create a web or mindmap, or even a list of facts.
2. Research
Where to Look
There are a number of places you can find information about your subject. First of all, you can use the web links I have found for you below. You could also go to the school library and find books on your subject. You might also want to try talking to your family members.
What to Do
Once you have your resources, you need to begin finding the information you will need for your project. After scanning through everything, you should start to get a good idea about what areas of your topic you want to focus on. That will help you decide on your subtopics (I will also provide you with an idea about some subtopics that you will need to cover). You will need to have three or four subtopics as a way to organize all your information.
Once you've got your sub-topics figured out, you should begin gathering your information by taking notes. Remember some of our key ideas when taking notes:
Taking Notes
- Note the source of your information. You will need to keep the address of the websites you use and/or the titles of the books you use.
- Jot down the important information in your own words
- Don't worry about full sentences - the idea is to quickly get the information down. So that could mean 'shorthand' as well.
- Spell the important words correctly. For example, if you spell migration wrong in your notes, there's a good chance you'll spell it wrong in your project. All you have to do is copy carefully.
- Keep your notes organised. Use your sub-topics as a way to do that.
After gathering all of your information, you will nee some pictures to use in your documentary. Remember what we've talked about:
Pictures from the Internet
- You MUST keep the web address of all the pictures you use. You can't just write: 'Google Images'.
- Save all of your pictures in a 'picture folder' in your folder on the student drive.
- After you've saved your pictures you should rename them so your folder is organised.
3. Plan
Now that you've got all the information and pictures you need and everything is organised with all your sources notes, it is time to begin planning your documentary.
First, have a look at the example documentaries I've put on this page. That will help give you a good idea about how a documentary looks and sounds. After that you will need to review the criteria I've talked to you about:
Your first step in the planning process is to create a story board for your documentary. When it is finished, this should provide a general idea of how your documentary will look and what information will be covered. Your story board is not a published document. It is a rough plan of what will be in your documentary. Therefore, it may change a few times and could be a bit messy.
Script
After your story board is completed you will need to write the script for your documentary. This is the actual words and sentences that will be presented in your documentary. Remember there are three different ways you can present information in your documentary:
1. Voice over - this should be how the majority of your information is presented.
2. Text on the screen - should be used only for titles, key words and credits.
3. Video of you speaking - This will be used for the end of the documentary only
We will discuss how to write your script over the next few weeks.
4. Create
After you've got everything ready, it will be time to head to the Mac suite to create the movies. This is the fun part!
5. Present
We will be displaying our documentaries on our class page and on your personal wikis. In order to do this we will need to upload the documentaries to Youtube and then embed them where you want to. Watch this video to show you how to do it:
Table of Contents
The Project
You will be making a video documentary about one of the following topics:- Australia as a Penal Colony
- The Atlantic Slave Trade
- The Highland Clearances of Scotland
Documentaries
Look at these examples of documentaries to help you plan and make your own:The First Great Migration
Miners
How Soccer Works
How It's Made - Snowboard
What Do I Do?
1. Brainstorm
After you choose your topic, the next thing you have to do is brainstorm everything you already know about the topic. This will help you decide what it is you need to find out in order to complete your project. You can create a web or mindmap, or even a list of facts.2. Research
Where to LookThere are a number of places you can find information about your subject. First of all, you can use the web links I have found for you below. You could also go to the school library and find books on your subject. You might also want to try talking to your family members.
What to Do
Once you have your resources, you need to begin finding the information you will need for your project. After scanning through everything, you should start to get a good idea about what areas of your topic you want to focus on. That will help you decide on your subtopics (I will also provide you with an idea about some subtopics that you will need to cover). You will need to have three or four subtopics as a way to organize all your information.
Once you've got your sub-topics figured out, you should begin gathering your information by taking notes. Remember some of our key ideas when taking notes:
Taking Notes
- Note the source of your information. You will need to keep the address of the websites you use and/or the titles of the books you use.- Jot down the important information in your own words
- Don't worry about full sentences - the idea is to quickly get the information down. So that could mean 'shorthand' as well.
- Spell the important words correctly. For example, if you spell migration wrong in your notes, there's a good chance you'll spell it wrong in your project. All you have to do is copy carefully.
- Keep your notes organised. Use your sub-topics as a way to do that.
After gathering all of your information, you will nee some pictures to use in your documentary. Remember what we've talked about:
Pictures from the Internet
- You MUST keep the web address of all the pictures you use. You can't just write: 'Google Images'.- Save all of your pictures in a 'picture folder' in your folder on the student drive.
- After you've saved your pictures you should rename them so your folder is organised.
3. Plan
Now that you've got all the information and pictures you need and everything is organised with all your sources notes, it is time to begin planning your documentary.First, have a look at the example documentaries I've put on this page. That will help give you a good idea about how a documentary looks and sounds. After that you will need to review the criteria I've talked to you about:
Documentary Structure
Story Board
Your first step in the planning process is to create a story board for your documentary. When it is finished, this should provide a general idea of how your documentary will look and what information will be covered. Your story board is not a published document. It is a rough plan of what will be in your documentary. Therefore, it may change a few times and could be a bit messy.Script
After your story board is completed you will need to write the script for your documentary. This is the actual words and sentences that will be presented in your documentary. Remember there are three different ways you can present information in your documentary:1. Voice over - this should be how the majority of your information is presented.
2. Text on the screen - should be used only for titles, key words and credits.
3. Video of you speaking - This will be used for the end of the documentary only
We will discuss how to write your script over the next few weeks.
4. Create
After you've got everything ready, it will be time to head to the Mac suite to create the movies. This is the fun part!5. Present
We will be displaying our documentaries on our class page and on your personal wikis. In order to do this we will need to upload the documentaries to Youtube and then embed them where you want to. Watch this video to show you how to do it:Links
Australia as a Penal Colony
Read Early History, 17th Century and 18th Century at this web site for some basic history ideas.http://www.australianexplorer.com/australian_history.htm
Read these sections of this web site for more ideas about the history of Australia:
- The First Fleet and a British colony
- Contacts and colonisation
- Law and land in New South Wales
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/australianhistory/
Read these articles about:
Convicts - http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/convicts/
Colonial Women - http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/colonialwomen/
Convict Women - http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/portjacksonwomen/
A newspaper article about the 2nd Fleet
http://members.pcug.org.au/~pdownes/dps/2ndflt.htm
Read these diary entries from members of the First Fleet
http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/s_may30.html
http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/s_women.html
This is an interesting newspaper article about life on the prison boats. It is a bit difficult to understand.
http://www.hotkey.net.au/~jwilliams4/consall2.htm
Convicts in Australia - from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convicts_in_Australia
Read about convict life at these two web sites:
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/justice/convict/convict.html
http://www.convictcreations.com/history/description.htm
Convicts Sent to Australia - a video
The Atlantic Slave Trade
History of the Slave Trade - http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/history-slavery.htmUnderstanding Slavery - http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/slavery/
Voices from the Days of Slavery - actual slaves tell what it was like - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/vfssp.html
The Atlantic Slave Trade from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade
The African Slave Trade - from How Stuff Works - http://history.howstuffworks.com/african-history/african-slave-trade.htm
The Atlantic Slave Trade - from MSN Encarta - http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761595721_2/atlantic_slave_trade.html
Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/africa_article_01.shtml
African-American Slavery - easier to read - http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/after1500/people/slavery.htm
African-American Slavery - easier to read 2 - http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/after1500/people/slavery2.htm
Atlantic Slave Trade - a video - http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/29888-assignment-discovery-atlantic-slave-trade-video.htm
The Highland Clearances of Scotland
The Highland Clearances from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_clearancesThe Highland Clearances - http://www.highlanderweb.co.uk/clearanc.htm
A great site from BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/as/clearances/
An overview of the Clearances - http://www.highlandclearances.co.uk/clearances/clearances.htm
Why Did so Many People Leave - http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/scottishhistory/industrialrevolution/clearances/clearances/resource.asp#2
Glasgow Clearances - http://www.highlandclearances.info/clearances/clearances_glasgow.htm
Highland Clearances Video - lots of interesting images from the clearances.